


To infinity and beyond

by DearLittleRobin



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, I'll be adding more tags as the story progresses, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Internalized Biphobia, It has nothing to do with the story tbh, M/M, Multi, because I love angst, i was just out of ideas, yes the title is based on buzz lightyear's phrase
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-01
Updated: 2017-07-12
Packaged: 2018-07-19 13:03:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 19,796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7362493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DearLittleRobin/pseuds/DearLittleRobin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“ We'll be sending you back to Earth  for five days. Use this time to rest and prepare your minds for what we have ahead of us. See your families and friends again and…” She hesitated, the smile in her face fading into a pained look. “ Say your goodbyes…for precaution” </p><p>Or</p><p>I wanted to write something about Keith meeting Lance's family and just couldn't resist putting angst everywhere.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello there! First fic in this fandom, hope you enjoy reading it :D

_"I have an important announcement to make” Allura said, her face showing deep concern and worry. Dark circles under her eyes indicated that she hadn't slept in a long time, but she wasn't the only one. Everyone was tired, who wouldn't be? They had fought long battles against The Garla Empire, one after another, freeing the planets and saving their people. The good thing was that ,during this time,they grew stronger: their techniques were upgraded, their team work was better and Voltron was getting more and more powerful with each battle won. “ We succeeded to free lots of planets from Garla’s claws and I couldn't be prouder of you, Paladins” Allura smiled at them, but the worry was clear still in her face “ By now, we have enough allies to help us free other planets so we can focus on our main task: defeat Zarkon for real” The smile vanished and her face got darker as she spoke just like the room got more serious with each word. “And that's what we are going to do in our next battle.” Allura sighed “ Seeing that this will be the most powerful enemy and most difficult threat we'll ever face, Coran and I decided that you deserve some time to recover your strength and prepare yourselves ” She smiled again at that, but it was almost like a sad smile as if she didn't like the news “ We'll be sending you back to Earth for five days. Use this time to rest and prepare your minds for what we have ahead of us. See your families and friends again and…” She hesitated, the smile in her face fading into a pained look. “ Say your goodbyes…for precaution” The realization of how serious the mission would be finally hit the people in the room. That battle wouldn't just be the most important one, but it could also be the last for some of them, maybe to all of them. The air “But don't keep this bad thoughts in mind!” Allura added quickly, accompanied by wild gestures with her hands “ Just... go there and have fun ” She smiled and, for the first time during the entire speech, the smile seemed actually happy. “ It'll all be okay”_

+++

Lance sat quietly in one of the many rooms of the castle/ship/thing that navigates through space, looking at the wall in front of him as if it could show the answer to all his problems if he stared at it long enough. He used to look at the wall of his room back at his house on Earth when he couldn't manage to sleep,but only because of the dancing lights the lamp post and cars passing near his window made. But now,at space, there was no cars or lamp posts, just a boring gray wall. He thought about looking at the stars instead or going to train a little but he decided that no, staring at the wall was better. Don't question it. Lance himself didn't quite understand what he was doing in a dark empty room at late o'clock.

He should be happier, shouldn't he? He was finally going to see his family again, feel the rain, go to the beach, hug his mother and everyone else. Why wasn't he smiling until his cheeks hurt? Going back to Earth was a good thing. Right?

Lance brought his knees closer to his chest and hugged them, still looking at the wall. Now that he thought of it, seeing his family again this time would be way different than the other times they spent apart. Before, they knew he was away because of the training program,but now they probably imagined he was dead or something. Oh god, what would he say to them? _“Hi, family! Turns out I'm alive after all! But, just so you know, I might not be next week! Why? Oh, I'm the leg of giant robot that fights against this bad dude who wants to conquer the universe! What will we have for dinner?”_ Lance groaned and finally broke eye contact with the wall to shove his head in his knees and groan some more.

Truth was, Lance really didn't want to die. He understood that it was a risk that came with being a hero and all that so he should deal with it because sacrificing himself for others was an honorable and brave way to go. Paladins are selfless warriors that do their best and beyond to protect the ones who can't protect themselves and if he truly was a paladin he shouldn't be any less. But Lance was scared. He was scared and sad and angry because he couldn't see this trip to Earth as going back home, but as a proof that he would most likely die in the next battle and would never ever see his family again so it was better if they just said goodbye already.

Lance hugged his legs harder and pressed his cheek to his knee, looking at the wall again. Right after Allura had finished her speech, Shiro did one as well, talking about how they shouldn't see going back to Earth with pessimism and should, instead, enjoy their time being back home and the lack of angry aliens. Of course, Shiro said that in a way more beautiful and poetic way because he was, well,Shiro, the king of motivational speeches. His words did a good job, Lance could tell.

Even Pidge who, at first, seemed extremely angry with the idea of going back to Earth without their father and brother seemed to have accepted it, saying they would focus on their search and spend time with their mother, who was most likely worried sick about them. Hunk looked happy with going back since Allura announced it and Shiro's speech only made him more excited with the whole thing. He would finally see his family again and eat something that wasn't the green whatever the hell the thing they got to eat was. _"I'm going to bring a whole supermarket to this ship when we're back"_ Hunk had said, gaining a few laughs from the others. _" You think I'm kidding? I'm deadly serious!"_

Shiro himself had said he would mostly just train and try to deepen his connection with the black lion, but he made clear that he would be available if any of the others needed him, no matter what for.

Keith had been the only one who didn't seem so sure of what to do once he was back on Earth.

"Lance?"

Speaking of the devil.

"Yeah?" Lance answered, not even bothering to turn his gaze away from the wall to look at Keith as he spoke.

"What are you doing here? It's late." Keith asked, his voice getting closer. His footsteps made loud noises as he walked to where Lance was.

"I could ask you the same thing" Now Lance turned his head. Keith was standing behind him, wearing his casual set of clothes. Lance always wondered if he had anything else to wear aside from that set and the combat clothes. He should ask someday. It was a little too dark for Lance to see exactly what expression Keith had on his face, but it seemed like the classic scowl.

“Too bad I asked first” Keith said and sat next to Lance without much ceremony. The two of them weren't always on the best terms but their relationship was getting better. Lance would say they were friends if someone asked. He hoped Keith would too.

“I'm bonding with the wall” Lance answered. It was the truth in a way, if you think about it. Him and that wall probably had some kind of connection now. Lance would name her Wallis. “Your turn”

“I come here to think sometimes” Keith answered after some seconds.

“Really? I thought this was a random room.”

“It is. That's why I come here, it's usually empty.”

“Oh, I can go if you want me to” Lance let his knees go , preparing to get up, but Keith stopped him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“No, it's okay” Keith retreated his hand.

The two of them sat in a comfortable silence for some time,looking at Wallis, until Lance felt the need to say something.

“How are you feeling about going back to Earth?” He asked and immediately regretted it, but now there was no turning back. Keith had already heard the question and turned to face Lance.

“I…” He seemed unsure of what to say. Keith sighed before continuing. “ I don't really know. I mean, I like Earth and all but I can't find any reason for me to go back there for now. We found the blue lion on the desert and Shiro is fine and…” He hesitated “ How about you?”

Lance almost asked Keith why he wouldn't go see his family but he decided against it. If Keith didn't say anything it was probably because he didn't want to. Lance could be a jerk sometimes but he knew when to stop, thank you very much.

“I'll go see my family for sure” He said “ Tell them I'm not dead, be hugged by my mom for at least fifteen minutes, this kind of stuff” Lance sighed. The mood in the room was too serious for him to deal with “I will be grounded for the rest of my life for disappearing into space, though” He joked and he could see a little smile on Keith’s face as he did so.

“Your family seem nice” Keith said.

“Ah, they are” Lance smiled at the memory. “The house is always so full of life and movement. We're like, twelve at total you see” Lance sighed, but he was still smiling “ I miss them a lot” He added and he could see a slightly trace if sadness in Keith’s face. Then it hit him. Keith wasn't going to visit his family because he probably _didn't have one._ How Lance didn't get that earlier? Keith always seemed extremely lonely, living alone in the desert and all that, he never said a word about his mother or father or anyone. Lance could have face palmed himself at that exact moment. Keith didn't have a family and there he was talking about how nice his was. Awesome. “Hey, you should meet them” the words left Lance’s mouth before he really thought about them, but he didn't really regret it. However, it still was a strange offer for him to make. “ I mean, I'll probably need someone to confirm that I'm telling the truth when I say that I pilot a giant mechanical lion through space.”

"I..." The surprise in Keith's face was priceless. Lance almost laughed at the view, but Keith didn't let it last too long. He was back to the classic serious expression in no time. "It...it would be nice" he finally answered.

Lance was slightly surprised with that fact that Keith, repeating, _Keith_ , the lonely wolf of the group, accepted his offer to go with him to an almost always full house. Lance really didn't imagine it,but he was also…happy about it. Oh well.

“Great! But I'll have to warn you, be ready for lots of tears and lots of food.”

“I'll be prepared” Keith smiled at him.

Without hesitation , Lance smiled back. They had a similar moment before, a bonding moment, Keith called it, and maybe it was because Lance wasn't in a near death situation anymore or maybe it was the lack of an angry super villain,but this new one felt...better. Lance didn't really want to think of the reason to it.

“Well, I'm going to bed.” Lance announced, easily getting up. He turned to Keith and offered a hand to him. Keith shook his head.

“I'll be staying a little bit longer” He explained.

“Okay then” Lance put his hand away and began walking towards the exit “Have fun with Wallis”

“Wallis?”

“Is the wall’s name” Lance reached the doorframe and looked back at Keith, who was already looking at him. Even with the lack of light, he could see the corner of Keith's lips going up.

“You two really bonded then, huh?” Keith let out a small chuckle, slightly shaking his head. He turned back to Wallis. “ See you tomorrow, Lance”

Lance opened the door. The light coming from the corridor was weak, but it still entered in the room. It illuminated Keith’s back and his mullet. _Dumb looking mullet,_ Lance thought.

“Yeah” Lance answered, stepping out of the room “ See ya”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a warning: I used the f word a couple of times here! Hope you like the chapter

Keith didn't remember much about his childhood. The few memories he had were all blurry and confusing, mostly of a black haired woman, who he assumed was his mother, smiling at him and saying things. He couldn't remember the words she said though, so that kind of memories were like a muted movie, lips moving but no sound whatsoever.

It made Keith really frustrated. The moment clearly was important, so why couldn't his brain just _fucking work correctly._ Oh, but wait. His brain wasn't done with him just yet, oh no, the little fucker still had some cards up its sleeve. He was incapable of remembering anything his mother had said to him but he had almost an entire school day stored in there.

It was a school trip to the zoo on a hot sunny day. The memory wasn't perfect, but it was more detailed than the other ones he had. He remembered his teacher giving him and the rest of the class some instructions about what to do in case any of them got lost, where everyone would meet after the whole thing was over and how they all should respect the animals and the people who worked at the zoo. There were a lot of flashes of him and other kids walking around and seeing animals and then a man with a snake over his shoulders.

_“The most important thing about befriending his creatures is showing them respect. Don't act like you're superior to them, treat them as an equal and the'll learn to trust you"_

So Keith couldn't remember a word his mother said to him but had an entire speech from a random zookeeper. Maybe he was destined to be a lonely man that gives some philosophical advices about life every now and then. Keith believed in that until the day he met Shiro.

Shiro saw potential in him. _Shiro_ , like _the most amazing pilot ever_ ,saw potential in _him_ , the lonely guy with behavior problems that everyone found difficult to deal with.

It gave Keith a whole new vision of life, a _purpose_. He would be an amazing pilot, just like Shiro,and go to space to discover new things and it would be fucking awesome.

Keith saw Shiro as the big brother he never had, like _family_. Of course, Shiro would never replace his mother, but he didn't have to. Shiro already gave him love and care and it was enough.

But the world didn't like seeing him happy he supposed, so Shiro was taken away from Keith and he lost his family again.

It hurt, oh god it hurt so much. He was alone again. Alone, _alone_ , _**alone**_.

So everything collapsed.

He was back to his anger attacks and difficult personality and the few people who talked to him aside Shiro started leaving as well. One time, an instructor approached him about it:

"You have to control yourself if you want to become a pilot here" he had said and Keith would have listened if he had stopped right there, but no, the instructor sighed and continued. " Shiro would be disappointed in you"

So Keith punched him in the face and got expelled from the program because not even his amazing abilities could save him now.

_Just like Shiro's abilities didn't save him from going away._

With that, Keith decided that fuck it,if the world wanted him to be sad and lonely so be it. He never imagined that it was the decision to embrace his loneliness that would bring Shiro back to him. He would have screamed out of happiness if he had the time to, but he needed to save Shiro first, which he did. With the help of three other people who he, at the time, didn't know would become his best friends.

And Keith was happy again.

He had Shiro back, new friends and a purpose to his life.

It was _great._

But then they would have to go back to Earth, the place where he only found loneliness and sadness and pain. He really didn't want to go. Things were great out in space, where he wasn't alone. Keith didn't want to be alone. Not again.He thought about asking Shiro to stay with him because he knew Shiro would say yes. He also knew that Shiro needed this time to himself. 

Keith was starting to give up hope when Lance asked if he wanted to meet his enormous family and Keith could have hugged him right then because yes, yes, yes. A full house with lots of people means no loneliness. No Keith being alone. Not at all.

It was strange to think that the person who solved his problems was Lance, the guy who called him his rival and with who he had constant little fights. But they were friends. At least he considered Lance his friend and hoped the feelings were mutual. They probably were or he wouldn't be following Lance to his family's house after everyone said their see you soon’s and parted ways.

Shiro was happy to know that Keith would have some company and wished him good luck while Pidge, Hunk and Lance hugged each other and exchanged some words. They all said goodbye to Allura and Coran and then Lance looked at him, smiled and said “Let's go?”, which Keith replied with a nod. So there Keith was, following Lance through the streets.

It was a sunny day with lots of people walking by and Keith kind of felt strange because he had really forgotten what the sun or being at the company of more than six people was like. But it was a good strange feeling, like when you listen to a song you haven't listen for a long time and remembers how much you like it. The houses on Keith's left were mostly built out of rocks, just like the sidewalk he was stepping on. Some houses were decorated with plants on the walls and windows. On Keith's right, he could see the beach and the sea. It was a beautiful place.

"I really loved to come here to watch the waves when it was too cold to actually swim in them" Lance said. He had told a lot of stories about the places him and Keith passed by during their walk. Lance's incapacity to stay quiet would usually bother Keith,but he kind of enjoyed it at that moment. It made him feel a little bit less lost with all the things around him." The sunset there is the most beautiful sunset you'll ever see, I promise you"

And then Lance changed the subject to how good the food from some random restaurant was and how they should totally try it sometime but oh, maybe they shouldn't because Lance's mother would probably want to cook for them during all the time they spent there and oh, Keith, you'll spend more than a day with us, right?

"If you want me to" Keith answered and shrugged "I don't want to be a burden"

"Of course not! It'll be cool to have you, man. Anyway, as I was saying, maybe we can pass there right before we have to go back to the castle and take something. For the trip, y'know? I mean, Hunk is probably going to bring food and all but I'm sure he won't bring nachos that taste as good as..." Lance stopped talking just like he stopped walking.

Keith stopped as well and they stayed in front of a orange house with plants on the walls and a welcome carpet on the door. It was a big house, with two floors, and Keith could hear noise coming from the inside.

"We're here" Lance said and it looked like he was talking more to himself than he was to Keith.

Lance looked uncertain about what to do next so Keith put a hand on his shoulder and smiled his most comforting smile.

"It'll be okay" He said and it was so strange because this whole situation was so different from their usual behavior around each other. But Keith felt like it was a good change. They needed to improve team work and all that, right?

Lance looked at Keith, nodded and walked to the front door. He raised his hand and brought it closer to the brown door.

Lance knocked.

The door opened after a few seconds to show a woman with curly short brown hair wearing an apron with what appeared to be flour on it. She looked at Lance for some seconds and Keith could see her eyes watering.

"Hey, mom" Lance said right before he was embraced into a bone crushing hug and the woman's face was already wet.

Keith felt really out of place at that moment and started debating how much of a bad idea it would be if he said to Lance that maybe he should come back later. Or maybe not come back at all because _awkward_. “How was the time you spent with Lance, Keith?” “Oh, I ran away because the awkwardness level was too high for me to handle”. Yeah, no one could say Keith wasn't a real teenager.

 _"We were so worried about you!”_ The woman cried out and Keith's eyebrows went up because that was _not_ English. Lance didn't say anything about having to speak…speak…speak whatever that language was! _“They said you flew away in this flying machine with some other kids and an unconscious Takashi Shirogane! I know you admire this guy but that's no excuse to kidnap him, Lance! I taught you better than that!”_ The woman let Lance go and even if her voice sounded angry two seconds before, her face was still extremely happy as she looked to her son. Then she notice Keith behind him. She looked at Keith and then at Lance and back at Keith and at Lance again. Lance didn't say anything and Keith kind of understood because that was a very important and delicate moment and all that but that didn't stop him from mentally kicking Lance multiple times. Mentally because he wasn't sure of what Lance’s mother would do if he kicked him for real. Keith was getting ready to run away when she finally said something. _“Lance, did you run away to be with this guy? Is this your boyfriend? Dear, you know we'll always support you…”_

_“Mom!”_

Keith had no idea on what was going on. Lance looked as red as a tomato and his mother was laughing and looking between them again and seriously, Keith was more than ready to just lay down and stay that way until the five days were over.

 _“He's not my boyfriend! He's my friend! Friend!”_ And now Lance was talking in the strange language as well. Great. Just great. _“Please don't talk to him about it, okay? He doesn't know.”_

Lance’s mother looked him for some seconds as if she wanted to say something else. Keith couldn't see Lance’s expression from where he was, but apparently it was convincing enough to make his mother give up on whatever she wanted to add in the conversation. Instead, she sighed and turned to Keith again.

 _“So what's your name, dear?”_ She asked with the gentlest smile Keith has ever seen and he felt truly disappointed in himself for not knowing what the hell she just asked.

Luckily, Lance had turned to look at him as well, so he saw the slightly, ok, no, _very_ panicked expression Keith gave him. And laughed. The bastard _laughed_!

“He doesn't understand Spanish, mom.” He finally said. So it was Spanish. Good to know.

“Oh, why didn't you say sooner? He must have been so confused!” She smiled at Keith and he could already say that he loved that woman. She extended her hand to him. “ I'm Clara, Lance’s mother. I hope you can help me finding out what my baby did while he was away.

“Keith” He shook her hand and smiled as well, both of them ignoring Lance whining in the background about how he wasn't a baby anymore. In any other circumstances Keith would have made fun of Lance for the nickname, but he really didn't want Clara to dislike him so he resisted the temptation. He could make fun of it later. “ It's a very long story”

“Oh, I surely have the time. But don't begin just yet, I'm sure the rest of the family wants to see you!” Clara pinched Lance’s cheek, ignoring his protests. She smiled to both of them. “Come inside.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo, some things I feel the need to explain:  
> 1- The city they are in is not really based on an specific place. I plan on trying to do a drawing of it to help you guys imagine it the way I did.  
> 2- I changed the narration focus from Lance to Keith because I want the people who read it to feel new to the things I'm presenting them. Lance knows what's going on, but Keith doesn't so it's funnier to make things from his point of view. But! I'll change back to Lance sometimes. I hope this changes don't bother you guys!  
> 3- I'll change the letters to italic when I'm translating what they're speaking from Spanish, but I think this was already clear.  
> 4- Keith may seem a little bit out of character here and I'm sorry for it :( This whole situation is very new and we've never seen them in anything like it so I'm trying to keep him the way we see him in the series but also show a new side of him that connects better with the story. I'll try to do better on the next chapters!  
> Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it!


	3. Chapter 3

The first thing they heard as soon as they stepped in the house was a high pitched scream. Keith’s body was on autopilot then, his hand flying to the bayard hidden in his jacket so his sword was ready in no time. He instinctively put himself in front of Lance and Clara, ready to face the terrible danger of…..two little kids?

There was, indeed, two children in front of Keith, one girl and one boy. They looked young, between six and seven years old maybe, but the boy looked a little bit older. They were both looking at Keith, who still had his sword in hand and was in combat position, with wide eyes and with their mouths forming a little ‘o’.

Such a good first impression to make, really. Keith was ready to apologize and just…he didn't even know. What do you do after you almost attack two little kids? Was there even a thing to do in this type of situation? _Oh god, oh god, oh go-_

“So cool!” The boy was the first one to break the silence in the room, running towards Keith with a big smile in his face. Keith felt like his body was frozen in place. “Is this real? Can I touch it? Can I use it? Who are you? Is that Lancy? Lancy!” And Keith was soon forgotten as the kid jumped on Lance behind him. “Where were you? Everyone was so worried but I told them you were fine! Who is the guy with the sword? Is he your friend? Can I use his sword? Can you ask him if I can use his sword?”

Lance didn't answer, too busy staring at the scene in front of him. The little girl, who Keith assumed was the person who screamed, was still looking at Keith. She didn’t look afraid, but cautious, as if waiting for Keith’s next move before she did anything herself.

“What just happened here?” A guy appeared behind the girl. He kind of looked like Lance, but much older and with a goatee. He looked at Keith and his sword and then at Lance with the boy in his arms, Keith could see the way his eyebrows went up and his mouth opened a little with the sight, and then back at Keith. _”Clara, why is there a teenager with a sword in our living room?”_ He said and Keith thought that maybe that was a good moment to disable the sword and look a little less like a threat because whatever that guy had just said, he did not look happy about it.

“What? No! I wanted to play with it!” The little boy protested as the sword disappeared. He turned to Lance with a determined expression in his face “Make him make the sword again! Please, Lancy!”

“No one is going to make any swords until I know what the hell is going on here!” The man, probably Lance’s father, almost screamed. And if looks could kill, Keith would have been pretty much dead.

“Language!” The little girl censored the man, her focus of attention finally changing as well as the man's gaze and Keith could feel relive going through his body " Auntie, Uncle just said hell!"

"We have more important things to worry about !" The man defended himself and his gaze was back on Keith " Like this kid! Who the hell is he?"

"Again!" The girl said a little louder "Auntie!"

"What the fuck is going on?" Another person entered the room, this time a girl. She seemed to be in her early twenties and had the same skin color as Lance, as well as the same hair color. Probably his sister, then.

"Language!" The little girl screamed this time.

During their walk to the house, Lance had once said that his family was like Team Rocket during arguments. "They're like 'Prepare for trouble. Make it double' y'know? Maybe even make it triple!".Keith didn't really understand at the time because he has never watched whatever that Pokemon thing was, but maybe he knew what Lance had meant now. The living room was a living chaos.

"I am Ketih" he tried to intervene and, even if he said it in a low tone, everyone in the room seemed to shut up and look at him. Shit. Keith tried to choose his next words carefully. " I'm really sorry for the sword incident , it was an automatic response to the scream"

"You mean that trying to kill children is a normal thing to you?!" The man answered and it was clear that Keith hadn't chosen his words carefully enough. The man put the girl behind his back and stepped forward "Was it you who took Lance away?" He was getting closer "Did you kidnap my son, _Keith_?" The man said his name like it was venom in his mouth.

If you really think about it,the answer to what he asked was partially yes because it was Keith who showed the blue lion to Lance and all, but that truly wasn't a good response at the moment. Actually, there was no good response. Not at all.

"Dad, leave Keith alone" Lance finally pronounced himself and Keith never thought he would be so glad to hear Lance's voice in his whole life. Lance took two steps forward, the little boy now on the ground instead of in his arms, staying between his father and Keith "He's my friend. It's okay."

"He almost attacked Julia and Lucas!" The man protested.

"He did not. It was like he said, okay? An automatic response. I would have done the same thing if I didn't know it was Julia who screamed. They're war reflexes."

And then everyone that was present on the room, minus Keith and Lance, screamed something. Lance seemed really regretful of his choice of words.

"You fought in a war?!" Lance's dad said just as Clara screamed "A war?!" and the boy said "Wow!' while Lance's sister said "A fucking war?!" Only to the little girl to complement with "Language!"

So yeah. Chaos. Keith was so not ready for this.

" _Why is everyone screaming?"_ Came a low, calm voice from the entrance of the room and everyone immediately stopped talking. So there was a light at the end of the tunnel after all, and it had the form of a Spanish speaking old lady with white hair and a sweet smile. She looked around the room until her eyes stopped on Lance and her smile got bigger _"Is that my little Lance?"_

 _"Yes, grandma, it's me. I'm back."_ Lance answered, giving her a smile of his own. It wasn't one of Lance's flirtatious or Let's-win-this-battle! smiles. It was a simple, happy one, Keith's favorite if you asked him. Not that he had a list or anything, it was just a random thought. Really.

 _"I missed you, Lance. We all did."_ The old lady walked towards Lance and put a gentle hand on his cheek. _"You're so much more handsome than when I last saw you,dear. Where were you?"_

 _"Lance and his friend will explain everything we need to know, mom."_ Clara said " _But let's call the rest of the family and go to somewhere more comfortable first."_ She turned to might-be-Lance's-sister "Maria, go call your brother please. Dad will call uncle Diego, I'll call Carol and I think Aunt Lucia will be back from the market soon. Lance, Keith go to the other room and wait for us there . Take Julia and Lucas with you. _Mom, can you go call dad?_ "

The old lady nodded with a smile and went out of the room, just like Maria and the man, but these two gave Keith a strange look before leaving.

"Let's go,sword guy!" Lucas screamed and motioned to Keith to follow him, which Keith did. 

The room they were now was bigger and had two big sofas, as well as some other furniture. There was also a fireplace and various pictures on the walls. Keith imagined that room was the family gathering one.

"Soo,now that Uncle Marcos isn't here" Lucas threw himself in one of the sofas and looked at Keith with his big eyes. " Can you show me the sword again? Pretty please?"

" I..." Keith glanced at Lance, waiting for some kind of response. Lance shrugged and smirked.

"My dad already kind of hates you, so it's not like the damage will be big"

"I don't want your dad to hate me! It was an accident!"

Lance laughed a little and Keith felt that want to kick him again. Maybe he could blame it on reflex.The excuse didn't go all that well with the sword thing but who knows? He could try it again. For science.

"Ouch!" Lance said, rubbing where Keith's leg hit him "Why did you do that?"

"War reflexes. I tend to kick things that laugh at me. Sorry"

"You're so cool!" Lucas said and it took Keith some seconds to realize he was talking about him. He felt his cheeks getting warmer.

"Hey, no far! I have a cool weapon too, I just don't aim it at defenseless kids!" Lance protested.

"It was an accident!" Keith said for what seemed to be the fifth time that day. Maybe Lance deserved another kick.

"You have?! Can I see it?" Lucas was.now jumping on the sofa , waving his arms around. That kid could never be even close to caffeine. " Lancyyy! I want to see it! Is it a sword too?"

"No, but it is just as cool!"

So Lance stared explaining his weapon to Lucas, who was still jumping on the sofa, and Keith knew that he didn't really have much say in that conversation anymore.

"Who are you exactly?" Keith heard a voice from his right side. The girl,Julia wasn't it?, talked for the first time since they entered in the room. Like her brother, she was on the sofa. Unlike him, she was actually sit. She had that expression on again, analyzing Keith's every movement, just waiting. She looked waaay too serious for a six year old.

"I'm Lance's teammate" Keith answered because that's what they were, right? Teammates. And friends, now that they were getting along better, but essentially teammates.

"Lance!"

Keith knew he shouldn't be surprised about a new person entering the room, this time a big guy that kind of reminded him of Hunk but with a beard and different face features, because Lance warned about his family being big, but still. Wow. 

"Where were you buddy?!" The man hugged Lance tightly and lifted him off the ground. Lance laughed a little "Don't you dare do something like this again you prick! I'll die of a heart attack if you ever scare me like that again! Don't let me die, Lance! "

"Got the message, uncle Diego" Lance laughed a little bit more as he was.put on the ground again and Keith couldn't help but feel happy as well. It was strange for him. Being happy because Lance, of all people, was happy too. Not a bad feeling though.

Diego's eyes finally found Keith in the room and he furrowed his eyebrows, got his head closer to Lance's and tried to whisper, the key word being _tried_ because it was loud enough for everyone to hear it.

"Who's the guy?" he asked.

"He's Keith, Lance's teammate" Julia answered with a proud smile on her face "I know because I asked!"

"Teammate? Little bro ran away to enter a football team or something?" And that came from a new voice. Maria entered the room with a tall, handsome guy following her. He had some similar traces to Clara, but his body language and smirk were so much like Lance's.

"If you did, I swear I'll punch you in the face" Maria added, but she was smiling as she hugged Lance from behind. Lance's brother did the same.

"I missed you, little bro" He said and ruffled Lance's hair.

"Hey! Stop messing my hair!"

"What? Like this?" Sebastian laughed and did it again "Don't worry, you can't look worse than you already are!"

"Screw you, Sebastian!"

"Language!"

Sebastian laughed some more and finally let go of Lance to turn to Keith.

"Nice to meet you Lance's teammate. I'm Sebastian." He extended his hand.

“Keith” They shook hands. “Nice to meet you too.”

“So, how is it like to have to deal with our little Lance in a team? I bet it takes a lot of effort”

"I was going to say that you wouldn't know, but I'm pretty sure you would"

Sebastian let out a short laugh as Lance protested and Keith couldn't help but smile too. So this was what family was like. Keith liked it.

A few seconds later, the missing family members appeared, accompanied by an old man two other women that Keith didn't know yet. The old man, Lance's grandfather Keith supposed, was the first one to go to Lance. He put a hand in his shoulder and smiled.

"I'm happy to have you back, my boy"

"Thank you, grandpa"

The man gave two little pats on Lance's shoulder and went to sit down on the sofa next to Lance's grandmother. The next person was one of the women, cute, short, with a long brown hair and a kind smile. She walked up to Lance and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"I'm glad you're here again, my dear. I missed your presence a lot" She said.

"I'm glad to be back too"

"Mom!" Lucas screamed and ran towards her. "Lance has this super awesome thing called bayard and it turns into a gun that destroys all the enemies! Keith's got a bayard too, but his turns into a sword!"

The confusion in the woman's face was almost funny enough for Keith to laugh a little, but he knew better that to actually do it. He was doing fine so far in the operation 'Don't let them hate you', no need to change that

"A bay...what? Who's Keith?" Lucas's mother asked.

"He's Lance's teammate! I asked!" Julia answered and, again, she seemed proud of herself for it.

"Am I the only one interested in knowing where Lance was and what was he doing?" Now it was the other woman, the tall and extremely well dressed one, who spoke. She looked at Lance "I'm really glad you're here with us today, but I also really want to know why you weren't for the past months"

Lance sighed. So it was time for the explanation time. Great.

"It's complicated" Lance started.

"We have the time, my dear" Clara answered.

Everyone was already sit on the sofas and looked ready to begin story time. Lance, however, didn't seem all ready to begin speaking, which really didn't suit his "I'll say everything that comes to my head" personality, so, just like he did outside, Keith put a comforting hand on Lance's shoulder and whispered that it would all be ok. It worked once, didn't it? Might as well work again.

It did work. Lance took a deep breath and put on a determined expression.

"Okay" he said.

Him and Keith were standing up in front of the sofas with everyone looking at them, as if it was a school presentation. Keith would never admit, but that many eyes on him kinda made him feel nervous. Even Lance, that always seemed to love being the center of attention, looked a little bit uncomfortable with the situation. Keith could understand. Explaining everything that happened to them during the time they were away from Earth was definitely not an easy thing to do.

"First of all, I have to say that this will sound extremely crazy, ok?" Lance put a hand behind his neck and sighed "So, hm, let's begin with the beginning. Huh,there is this, huh, giant mechanical blue, huh, lion...thing." he looked at Keith and his eyes screamed for help.

"True" Keith said and he could feel Lance's gaze intensifying. Keith shrugged

Lance sighed again.

"The thing is that we found this lion inside some caves in the desert and it chose me to be its pilot, just like the red chose Keith and the other three chose each one of my other friends,and it kinda flew us into a wormhole to the other side of space in a planet called Aurus where we met Allura and Coran, that are aliens by the way, and they told us about Zarkon,this super evil dude, that is also an alien, who conquered like a really big part of the galaxy during the last ten thousand years." He waited for some reaction. None was given. "So, uh,me and my blue lion have to combine with the other four lions to form a giant lion made robot, called Voltron, to fight against Zarkon because we're the most powerful weapon in the universe or something." Nothing. "So that's what I've been doing for the last months, fighting the evil guy's and saving the galaxy. Haha." Lance smiled and it was probably meant to be a calm reassuring smile but it came out as the most panicked one Keith has ever seen. The family stayed in silence "I'm a leg" Lance continued and looked at Keith again.

"True" he said and, when Lance seemed ready to kick him or something , he added " I'm an arm"

Lance facepalmed himself and that was when Clara got up.

"Lance" she said with a very worried expression on her face. In fact, everyone seemed extremely worried."Did you...did you run away because of something involving....something involving drugs?"

That was going to be a long conversation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, now that you guys have met Lance's family, the next chapters will be more focused on Lance and Keith. I just really wanted to introduce the family and all. Hope you enjoyed this!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for taking so long to post this :( hope ypu guys enjoy your reading \o/

It took Lance one hour and a half to properly convince his family that no, he didn't get involved with drugs and no, he hadn't been hypnotized and no, Garrison wasn't an evil institution that holds pilots as prisoners and put them through extremely realistic fighting simulations to brainwash them and form an army of super trained slaves. _("Get away from the conspiracy theories on the internet, uncle Diego!")._ To achieve that, he had to make Keith transform his bayard into a sword at least six times to prove that it wasn't (a) a retractable blade or (b) an illusion or (c) a trick or (d) a weapon that Garrison created to make people think there wasn't any danger so Garrison could take them by surprise! _("What did I just say?")_

Lance also had to do _lots_ of talking. He told the same story a total of nine times, including more details each time while still trying to omit all the times he was in a extremely dangerous or near death situation. So yeah, he may have said the fights were a little bit easier and less adventurous than they actually were but hey, it was for a greater good okay? It was better to have one slightly disappointed kid than nine super worried adults in a room.

The danger on his missions wasn't the only thing he omitted though. He also didn't say anything about how long he would stay or how his next battle might be his last. Allura would probably be disappointed to hear that he didn't do the only two things she asked him to, but it just wasn't the right time for bad news. He could not kill the happy mood like that. Lance was the life of the party, not the party popper.

After that long conversation, Lance's mother and Uncle Diego decided that they should all eat something and call it a day and ,unsurprisingly, no one disagreed with them. During dinner, Lance got updated about everything that happened  while he was away, including how Sebastian was now engaged to his longtime girlfriend and the marriage would be in five days! Sebastian was so glad that Lance was going to make it! Keith was totally invited too, the more the merrier! And Lance was happy with the news, of course he was, but that made things a little bit more complicated: now he could either tell them about him leaving before the celebration and consequently make Sebastian marry knowing that he may never see his brother again or after the marriage and totally ruin the happy vibe of the event. _"Congratulations you two! I have to leave now because the galaxy needs protection and all that. Name one of the kids Lance in case I end up dying,okay? Bye!"_

Ugh.

He would think more about it later.Maybe even ask Keith what were his thoughts on the matter. Yeah, he should do that. Ask Keith that is.

Lance looked over to where the other boy was sleeping. They were both in Lance's room, Lance on the bed and Keith on a mattress. It reminded Lance of when he was little and called his friends over to play and sometimes it was just too late for them to go back home and they ended up sleeping in Lance's house. He and his friends would stay awake talking about videogames and cartoons until Lance's mother or father entered the room to tell them it was far too late for that much noise and they should all go to sleep. It was different with Keith of course, because neither him nor Lance were kids that needed an adult to tell them to go to sleep and Keith was out the moment his head hit the pillow.

Lance looked at him again. Keith's long hair was all messy, covering half of his face and almost going inside his mouth. Lance never really noticed how soft Keith's hair looked, but he had never looked at it this closely. It was so close that if Lance extend his hand, he would be able to touch it and...

No. No no no no no.

Nope.

Lance rolled over again and was now facing his wall as he tried his best to ignore where his mind was leading him. It wasn't right, he shouldn't think like that. No,no and no. 

And then Lance was back to his kid self, back to all the nights he took longer to sleep trying to make the _wrong_ happiness he felt every time that boy from the other class smiled or talked to him go away. Because it was wrong and people didn't like it. They made that clear enough when the boy who confessed to the other one came to school with a black eye on the next day.

And it didn't stop there.

Lance saw the way people "accidentally" bumped into that boy on the hallways and the names he was called and how he didn't do physical education because the other boys didn't want him in the locker room with them. Lance saw that kid suffering and thanked heaven he wasn't going to pass through that because Lance was only _half_ broken. He knew he liked girls too and it made hiding the other part of him a little bit easier. He could always flirt with the cute girls and the worst thing that could happen was him getting his heart broken. If he did the same to boys, he could put a broken nose on the list as well.

It wasn't any secret that Keith was a handsome guy and it didn't even make sense because he had that stupid haircut that was supposed to make him look bad but nooo, Keith had to be part of the small group people who could still look good like that. Because Keith was always so good at everything.

When he and Lance first met at Garrison, Lance thought about befriending him, but quickly decided against that idea. The guy was hot, handsome and an amazing pilot. If his personality proved to be as good as his looks, Lance knew he was going to fall for him and he could not let that happen. Lance was so angry at Keith for almost ruining everything and he hold on to that anger every time they interacted because that left no space for friendship or anything else.

So Lance hated Keith. Lance hated him for being a better pilot, hated him for being so good at everything, hated him for showing Lance what falling in love could be like and being a guy at the same time.

When Keith was expelled, Lance told himself he was happy about it. Why wouldn't he be? Keith wasn't his friend and he not being there meant that the top pilot position was now Lance's. Lance was better without Keith.

The universe had other plans though and they met again in a situation where becoming friends was inevitable. Lance tried to fight it but he knows he failed. Keith wouldn't be at his house if they were enemies like Lance wanted them to be. Lance wouldn’t want to take Keith’s hair out of his face to have a proper view if Lance hated him like he was supposed to. Because Keith being Keith was enough to make Lance like him a little bit too much. And that was not good. Not good at all.

Lance sighed and hugged his pillow, still facing the wall. It was far too late for that shit and he really needed to go to sleep if he wanted to wake up in a good mood. Lance really missed sleeping on his bed and he should not waste the opportunity by overthinking everything. He took his headphones from the bedside table and put them on, turned his IPod on and let the calm sound wash his thoughts away. Sleeping was the best thing to do.

Really.

When Lance woke up in the next morning and didn’t see the gray metal roof of his room in the castleship but saw, instead, his blue roof with the plastic stars he had glued up there when he was little, he actually felt better. Lance couldn’t help but smile. He was back on Earth, back to his family, back home.

“Are you ready for breakfast, Keith?” He asked, but no answer came. Weird. Keith was usually one of the first to wake up back at the castle. He frequently complained about Lance waking up late! There was no music playing anymore, but maybe the headphones muffled the sound of Keith’s answer? Lance took them off. “Keith?” He asked again, but no response came. Lance rolled on his bed. “Are you awake, dude?” The answer to that was no. Keith was still asleep, looking like he hadn’t moved a centimeter during the night with the exception of his hair, which was even messier. The worst part? He looked cute. _Cute_. Keith was asleep and with hair all over his face but still looked fucking cute.

Lance could almost hear his brain screaming "Danger! Danger! The feelings are coming!" so he decided to turn on his nope mode and just get out of the room before the crisis hit him again. He just needed some time to fix everything up and things would be back to normal. His mother’s breakfast would surely help.

_“Good morning, dear”_ Clara said as he entered the kitchen _“Did you sleep well?”_

Lance didn’t answered immediately, too caught up on the scene in front of him to form a proper answer.The kitchen with its colourful pots and plates, the sun entering from the open window and his mother mixing something in a blue bowl , probably preparing pancakes, with a smile on her face.

_"Yeah"_ Lance finally answered, almost whispering. _"Everything is great"_

Clara put the bowl away and walked towards Lance so she could put her arms around him and embrace him into a hug. Lance returned the gesture, letting his head rest on his mother's shoulder.

_“I know I've said it before but I just..."_ Clara took Lance’s head out of her shoulder, gently holding his cheeks with both hands, and kissed his forehead  _“I’m so happy you are back, my son”_

_“I’m happy too”_

Clara smiled again and went back to the pancakes. Lance followed her and sat on the counter, watching as she mixed the contents of the bowl. Usually, Clara scolded him for being on the counter, but she didn’t say anything about.

_“What are you planning to do today?”_ She asked instead.

_“Ah, I don’t really know”_ Lance answered, swinging his legs _“Maybe we could show Keith around? That way I can spend some time with you guys without making him feel left out. And we could go to the beach too! Man, I missed this beach.”_

_“I like this idea”_ Clara laughed a little.

_“What idea?”_ Maria entered the kitchen, rubbing her eye.

_“We’re thinking about what we can do this afternoon. Lance suggested a tour around the city and going to the beach after it”_ Clara gave the bowl to Lance as she searched for a pan _“What do you think, Maria?”_

_“I don’t think before a cup a coffee”_ She answered and zombie walked towards the coffee machine _“Ask me again in ten minutes”_

_“You children depend too much on caffeine”_ Clara shook her head disapprovingly. She already had the pan in one hand and lighted the stove. _“Lance, does Keith like pancakes?”_

_“Probably”_

_“Probably? Don't you know?”_

Lance shrugged. How would he know? He and Keith never talked about Earth food so maybe Keith hated pancakes, but it was almost impossible to hate Clara’s pancakes. So yeah, probably was a good answer. Lance’s mother didn’t seem to have enjoyed it very much though. She didn’t have to say anything for lance to understand the message.

_“I’ll go ask him, be right back.”_ Lance said and put the bowl where he was formerly sit.

Clara’s expression softened and she gave Lance a little smile as he got out of the kitchen, walking towards his room. Lance didn’t think much as he opened the door but in general he expected to find Keith still sleeping or awake and walking around the room because he was too awkward to walk around the house without Lance.

What he did not expect to find however, was a shirtless Keith with poorly spread sunscreen  on his back, more sunscreen on his hands and face and with his hair tied back in a fucking _ponytail_.

It was the third time in less than 24 hours that Lance had the words hot, handsome and kissable appear on his mind when he looked at Keith so the world had to be kidding with him because he has been totally capable of holding feelings like this back for the past months, what was different now? The it hit him. Allura wasn’t there anymore. Lance knew the princess was waaay out of his league, and she made a cuter pair with Shiro anyway, but she was attractive and awesome and he needed to focus on someone if he wanted to ignore his handsome teammates. Now that the only girls Lance is having contact with are part of his family his mind had no other option but to finally fully acknowledge how hot, handsome and kissable Keith really was.

Fuck. 

“What are you doing?” Lance asked and was surprised he could actually say a sentence that made sense in such a casual tone.

Keith turned to Lance so fast that no one would be surprised if the movement ended with a crack sound. Luckily, it didn’t.

“Have you ever heard of knocking?” Keith asked and Lance was again surprised, this time because Keith’s angry face with sunscreen  on it didn’t look half as ridiculous as Lance thought it would. How the hell did Keith manage that kind of thing?!

“This is my room!” Lance answered, expressively gesturing. His brain may be doing some crazy shit lately, but it wasn't bad enough to make Lance miss the chance of starting an argument with Keith. It was in his blood

“But I’m sleeping in here too!” Correction: it was in their blood.

“And I thought I would find you sleeping when I entered, not applying sunscreen!”

“It’s sunny out there, sunscreen is needed!”

“I know sunscreen is needed!”

“So why are you talking about me applying it like it is the strangest thing you’ve ever seen?!”

“I just wasn’t expecting it!”

“Stop speaking so loudly!”

“You are the one who started shouting .” Lance said and crossed his arms, but he lowered his voice tone anyway.

“Am not”

“Are too”

Keith sighed.

“What do you want Lance?”

Lance rolled his eyes.

“Not your rudeness, thank you very much. I give myself the trouble to come here ask you if you like pancakes and this is how you treat me.”

“…Pancakes?”Keith frowned “Why do you want to know if I like pancakes?”

“Because my mom’s cooking them for breakfast and,even though I think is impossible to dislike her pancakes, she asked me to ask you.”

“Oh” The anger left Keith’s face completely, surprise soon taking place. With that, the argument ended. After so much time fighting each other, Lance and Keith didn't even need to formally end their fights anymore, they both just knew when it was over. It was a strange thing to upgrade in a relationship but hey, no one was complaining. “I…yeah. I like pancakes”

“Great” Lance smiled. “Come on then, they must be ready”

“Right”

Keith quickly finished applying the sunscreen on his face and back, reaching for his shirt. Lance stopped him before he could put it on.

“You missed a spot” Lance said and reached out to finish spreading the sunscreen on Keith’s shoulder without thinking much. Lucas was the king of not applying sunscreen correctly so Lance was already used to finishing the job. It was when his hand made contact with the pale skin that he finally realized what he was doing.

If Lance wasn't in panic mode before, he surely was now.

Thankfully, his brain only froze for a little bit more than a second and it soon was screaming “Move your hand, you idiot!” and Lance was happy to follow the instructions.Quick hand movement, bye bye sunscreen, no more hands on Keith’s shoulder, the problem was over.

“Oh, thanks.” Keith said and gave Lance a little smile, completely ruing the 'the problem is over' feeling.

Stupid Keith. 

“No problem. Let's go” Lance quickly turned to the door, walking away from Keith as fast as possible. Why did the universe hate him so much? What has he done to deserve this? Stupid, stupid Keith.

“Hey” Keith, now with a shirt on thank god, appeared beside Lance. He poked Lance’s cheek with his finger “ You are all red! See? That's why sunscreen is important!”

“Shut up!”

Stupid,stupid, stupid Keith.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for taking so long to post this! Sometimes I forget that even if I have the whole story in my head, it won't write itself :(  
> Also, some of you may be thinking "there's angst in the tags and there's angst in the summary, but where's the angst in the story?" So, in my opinion, the only thing sadder than writing about sad things is writing about happy things being destroyed :D  
> Hope you enjoy the chapter <3

Walking around the city made Keith truly understand why Lance missed Earth so much. Keith had never seen so many flowers together in a place that wasn’t a flower shop before. Maybe Lance’s town was secretly an enormous flower shop? Keith couldn't really find other explanations. 

Also, the beach. Like, Keith was used to sand, he lived on a motherfucking desert for God's sake, and for him beaches were literally just deserts with the addition of salty water, so Keith really didn't understand why Lance treated it as some kind of paradise. Turned out it was some kind of paradise, after all. The atmosphere as whole was just so…incredible. The sea, the waves, the sun, the breeze and even the sand. Keith didn't know if he felt that way because he had never been in a beach before or because that specific beach was magic or something, but he knew the feeling was good and that was enough. It was strange at first, not to having the fear of being attacked pulsing through his veins, but it turned out to be a good kind of strange. Keith liked the adrenaline of battles, but he also liked some peace and quiet. 

"God, I missed this" Lance said. He was sit beside Keith, but he wasn't under the umbrella, instead, he was letting the sun touch all of his exposed skin, his eyes closed, head thrown back and a little smile on his face. "The sun feels so good." Lance sighed happily."You should try it too, you know." He said without opening his eyes, but Keith knew Lance was talking to him "I swear, you are way too pale for it to be healthy. You look like a vampire" 

"Screw you, Lance" Keith answered and was glad Julia wasn't near by to scold him for his language. 

Lance only laughed and didn't say anything else so Keith decided to use the quiet time to look around a little. He could see Julia and Lucas playing with Maria in the water, Clara and Lucia observing them not too far away and Lance’s grandparents holding hands as they calmly walked near the sea. The rest of the family wasn't there. Sebastian had to help with the preparations for the wedding and the others had gone to work (It was Tuesday, after all).

A thing that surprised Keith was how interacting with Lance’s family was easy. The kids seemed to like him and that was apparently enough for the rest of the family to like him too. Well, at least Keith imagined they liked him, based on how nice he was being treated and all. He hoped he was right. 

“Hey, Keith” 

The voice made Keith snap out of his thoughts. Lucas was standing in front of him, a big smile on his face. His hair was wet and sticking to his forehead and Keith assumed he had just got out of the sea. 

“Hey, Lucas” Keith answered.

“Can you help me build a sandcastle? I'm tired of swimming so I want to build the biggest sandcastle ever seen!” Lucas raised his hands, demonstrating how big the castle would be. “No one wants to build a castle with me now and I would ask Lance for help, but he's sleeping, so that leaves you!” 

“Lance is sleeping?” 

Lance was, indeed, asleep. His head rested on his arms and his back slowly going up and down. How the hell he was able to fall asleep on the 3 minutes Keith spent not looking at him, that was a mystery. 

“Yeah, he probably didn't get much sleep last night or something.” Lucas shrugged “ But, Keith! Help me build a sandcastle? Please?”

Keith turned back to Lucas, ready to explain how he didn’t really know how to build anything with sand, but no word left his mouth. You see, Keith has never been a real fan of kids, more because he didn't know how to act around them than because he didn't like their company. But there, seeing Lucas smiling and looking genuinely excited to build a sandcastle with _him_ , Keith knew he couldn't say no. 

“Sure thing, kiddo” He said and smiled. “Let's build the biggest sandcastle ever seen” 

“Yes!” Lucas screamed and sat in front of Keith, pointing at a bag full of sand toys and gesturing for Keith to take it. “I knew Lance made a good choice by choosing you, Keith!” 

“Choosing me?” Keith frowned in confusion as he gave the bag to Lucas “Choosing me for what?” 

“To be his best friend, duh!” Lucas answered  as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. 

Keith thought about it for a second. Was he Lance's best friend? He didn't think so. The title was probably Hunk's. 

"I'm not his best friend" He said.

"Really?" Lucas seemed legitimately surprised. "Are you his boyfriend, then?" 

If Keith had been drinking something, he would have probably spat it. Keith was good at hiding some emotions, surprise wasn't one of them. 

"What?!"

"I mean, you can be best friends while simultaneously being boyfriends, but it's okay if you see them as two different things." Lucas completely ignored the shock on Keith's face and continued "I haven't seen you two kissing, though. And Lance didn't say anything, which is strange of him, but maybe you are shy. Are you shy Keith?" 

"We're not boyfriends!" Keith said and it was a little louder than expected, but Lance didn't even move. Keith could feel his cheeks getting warm, as well as the tip of his ears, but Lucas, again, didn't really care about Keith's reaction. 

"Aren't you? You are making me confused, Keith."

"We are friends, just friends!" 

Lucas squinted his eyes at Keith, as if he was looking for something in his expression. He hummed then slowly backed off.

"Okay then! I'll fill my bucket with some water!" And all the tension was immediately dissipated. Lucas smiled again and ran off to the sea with his yellow bucket. "I'll be right back!" 

"Okay" Keith answered, but it was far too low for Lucas to hear and Keith was left with only the sound of the waves crashing, Lance's soft snores and his thoughts screaming inside his head.

Keith turned to where Lance was laying and as he looked at Lance's uncovered back Keith could imagine his hands there, exploring every inch of Lance's skin. Keith could imagine himself kissing Lance and could imagine himself holding Lance's hand in his while they talked about random stuff. Keith could imagine them as boyfriends and that was so fucking weird because it was Lance he was thinking about. 

Lance, the guy who treated Keith like his rival and even if they arguments were more like playful bickering now, at the beginning Keith could swear Lance hated him for real.

Lance, the guy who was 100% straight and didn't miss a chance to flirt with any female forms of life he found.

Lance, the guy who was kind and gentle and handsome and cool and 

"I'm back!" Lucas said and Keith would thank him for stopping his line of thought if Lucas wasn't the one who made that line of thought exist in the first place.

"Great" Keith smiled, trying his best to ignore how his cheeks were still warm and the mental images of Lance's mouth on his were still there "Let's begin our castle!" 

While doing so, Keith learned that (a) building sandcastles was, surprisingly, a relaxing activity, (b) sitting on the sand while wearing shorts was a bad idea and he would find that devilish granular material in many unwanted places after,(c) Julia, who had joined him and Lucas after some time, really loved seashells and (d) playing with kids was a lot easier than Keith had expected, but building castles was  alot harder. 

 “Well” Lucas said, looking at the medium sized sandpile full of holes (that were supposed to be windows) and seashells (because, according to Julia, "the castle had to be pretty and there’s nothing prettier than seashells!"). Lucas looked at the structure in front of him up and down. “It’s not that big, but I like it!”

“I like it too!” Julia smiled and put some more seashells in the construction “It’s pretty!”

And when Keith smiled at the kids, he did it because he was happy. Seeing Lucas and Julia smiling while decorating the castle made him happy. Seeing Lucas and Julia smiling at him while asking for help with the decoration made him happier.

Was that what having a family was like? Because Keith liked it. He liked it a lot.

“Are they bothering you, Keith?” He heard Clara’s now familiar voice behind him. 

“Not at all” He answered, without a second of hesitation.

“I’m glad you are having a good time with us, Keith” Clara continued, putting her hand on Keith’s shoulder. He didn’t need to look at her to know she was smiling. “ But we have to go.  Mom and dad are getting tired”

“But I don’t want to!” Lucas protested, crossing his arms. Julia mimicked his actions. " I want to play more!" 

“Hey” Lucia stepped forward. She was holding two towels in one hand and two popsicles in the other. “Let’s do it like this: you two go clean yourselves in the sea and, when you come back, you’ll have popsicles. Deal?”

Neither of the kids uncrossed their arms. Lucia smiled.

“Strawberry flavored popsicles” She said and those three words were enough.

“Deal!” Both children screamed and ran towards the sea as fast as they could.

Clara and Lucia laughed, Lucas and Julia were smiling and Keith felt happy. 

“Jesus, what time is it?”

Keith turned to see Lance finally waking up. There was sand on his hair and arms and he kind of looked like a zombie on vacation, but Keith, somehow, felt happier. He decided to ignore whatever reasons caused that, because, at the moment, he just wanted to enjoy the feeling. 

And everything went fine, until four hours later. They bathed, Keith was once more blessed with Clara’s food and while the others had their siesta time, Keith and Lance decided to watch some movies because apparently Keith couldn’t die without watching a movie about some kind of space war (Keith tried to say that he didn’t need to watch anything about sapce wars, because _hello,_ he actually fought in a space war, but Lance wasn’t convinced).Things were going okay, the movie was good, spending some time with Lance was also good and they were having some quality bonding time. Or at least they were, until the middle of The Empire Strikes Back.

“Hey, Keith”

“Yeah?”

“The room is spinning”

Keith turned to Lance.

“What?”

“Everything is spinning”

And, you see, Keith was good at dealing with unexpected situations in general, but he was definitely not prepared for Lance to pass out on him. Not at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not really happy with this chapter, but I didn't want to take any longer to post it :( Sorry. Next one will be better \o/


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here comes the angst  
> dun dun dun dun  
> Here comes the angst  
> And I say  
> Lance will cry  
> Dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun  
> (An this is what happens when I write listening to Beatles)

Lance didn't need to open his eyes to know he wasn't inside a healing pod. It was strange, how clearly he remembered the feeling of waking up in one, the chills that traveled through his body and how his legs seemed to be working on their own to prevent him from falling face first on the ground. Now that he came to think about it, putting healing pods in vertical positions wasn't really the most intelligent thing to do. Maybe Alteans were supposed to always be strong enough to get out of a healing pod walking? Or maybe they believed that there would always be someone to catch them if they fell? Lance decided to just ask Allura or Coran sometime, because thinking too much was already making his head hurt. A lot.

"Lance? Are you awake?"

The blue paladin was vaguely aware of his surroundings. His eyes were still closed, but he could feel some kind of wet cloth on his forehead, drops of water traveling down and reaching his ear. There was some kind of soft breeze in the room too.

"Lance?"

The voice was like a distant whisper and it surprised Lance a little to hear someone calling him, given the fact he wasn't sure of where was. He squeezed his already shut eyes, trying to focus on the sound more.

"Can you open your eyes, Lance?"

Lance now recognized the voice but his head wasn't doing a good job at connecting it to a name. In fact, his head wasn't doing a good job at anything aside from hurting a lot. A hand came by and took the wet colth away from his forehead. 

"Open your eyes, Lance. Come on"

So he did. There wasn't much light in the room, so he took some seconds to get used to the darkness, but he was eventually able to see Keith staring at him with his arms crossed and the usual frown.

Wait.

Keith?

"You are the stupidest person I have ever met in my entire life"

Yeah. That was enough confirmation, the guy was definitely Keith. But there was a hint of worry in his tone that Lance didn't remember to have ever heard when the other was throwing insults at him. What the hell. Lance really needed to figure out what was going on. He opened his mouth to ask, but no words came out since his throat felt as dry as the desert Keith used to live.

Awesome.

Ok, priorities, firstly he needed some water and then he could proceed to figure out what was happening . Fortunately, Keith seemed to have reached that same conclusion and quickly gave a water bottle to Lance. He quietly thanked the other boy and started to move into a sitting position but wow, that was way harder than Lance thought it would be. Thankfully, Keith was able to help. Again.

"What happened?" Lance managed to say when his throat hurt a little less, voice too hoarse and strange for his liking.

"Well" Keith began and he wasn't really looking at Lance, focusing, instead, on the bottle in Lance's hands "I cradled you in my arms" Keith took the bottle and put it on the bedside table. " Again." And _now_ he really looked at Lance, his stare with this weird mixture of anger and worry that gave Lance the chills. " Because a certain someone, who is supposed to know this kind of thing , thought it was a good idea to sleep under the goddamn sun with no kind protection whatsoever.” Keith shook his head disapprovingly “ Did you forget how the sun works? ”

Normally, Lance would make some kind of joke about the situation or play it as part of his charm, but those words hit Lance way harder that they should have. It felt like a slap to the face because the answer was yes, he had _forgotten_. His mother had been teeling him about the dangers of staying too long under the sun without protection since he was able to walk and he had forgotten about it _completely_.

"I'm sorry" He said to no one in particular and turned his gaze away from Keith, ashamed of how broken his voice sounded. "I'm sorry" He repeated, trying to sound better, but failing miserably. Lance's head was spinning, he felt sick. "I just... I haven't felt the sun in so fucking long and I... I forgot" His vision was getting blurry. He felt angry at himself. " We weren't even away for that long and I just... I just f-forgot." Why was he crying? He shouldn't be crying. But Lance couldn't stop the tears from falling nor could he stop the words from coming out his mouth. Lance looked at Keith again. The other boy watched him with panicked eyes, clearly not knowing what to do and Lance almost laughed. There he was, not only breaking down in front of Keith fucking Kogane over something so stupid but also making the situation extremely uncomfortable. He looked away as fast as he could. But he didn't stop talking “What if we aren't able to defeat Zarkon and this fight continues? How long would it take for us to win? What if...” He sniffed “ What if forget about my family?” That thought broke something inside Lance and he was now really crying. Cursing himself for being so pathetic , cursing the world for choosing him to be a defender of the universe or whatever , cursing Zarkon for conquering half the universe. "I d-don't want to leave t-them again" Lance's head hurt, everything was blurry and confusing. " I-I don't want to lose them" That last part was barely audible through Lance's sobs. 

God, he was making a fool of himself, wasn't he? In front of Keith, of all people. Lance hid his face in his hands, trying to contain his sobs.

Great. Fucking great.

Zarkon wouldn't be defeated by someone so weak as him and then the war would continue for who knows how long and he would forget about his family. Their faces and voices and personalities and the things they did together . Everything. All gone.

Lance would go back to space and leave his family waiting for someone that would never return. He would die and be forgotten.

“Lance” Lance heard Keith’s voice, but didn't dare to look up. He couldn't face Keith. Not like that. “ Lance, hey” There was so much _pity_ in his voice. Lance hated it.

“Lance” Keith called again.

 _Pity_.

Then, Lance felt a pair of arms going around him. They were hesitant, careful, as if their owner wasn't sure if the hug was going to be accepted. For some seconds, Lance didn't know what to do. Keith was hugging him and he was crying and although they were now closer friends than they've ever been it still frightened Lance to break the image Keith probably had of him. Lance was a cheerful boy who smiled and joked about everything, not a sobbing mess. Keith wasn't supposed to see him like that.

“Lance” Keith repeated his name, but there wasn't any pity in his voice tone anymore.

Lance finally gave in and wrapped his own arms around Keith, hiding his face on Keith’s shoulder and letting the tears fall.

“I don't want to go back there, Keith.” He managed to say and he knew it was selfish of him to want something like that but _he couldn't help it._

Lance wanted to watch Lucas and Julia grow up and teach them how to ride a bicycle, wanted to knit sweaters for Christmas with his grandmother and grandfather, wanted to wake up with his mother’s hugs and have his hair ruffled by his father, wanted to go to the cinema with his brother and sister, wanted take care of the flower shop with his aunt and uncle and go to library with his other aunt. Lance wanted to go to the beach and feel the rain with them.

He wanted to _stay._

“I don't want to leave them. Not again.”

Keith didn't say anything, only hugged Lance harder and started to calmly and gently ruffle his hair and for Lance, that was enough. There was nothing Keith could have said to make him feel better, they both knew it. 

Time passed (maybe minutes, maybe hours, Lance honestly had no idea) and when he was finally calm again Lance felt drained. His head felt heavy, his eyes were shut, but his grip around Keith was as strong as it was initially. He didn't want to let go.

And, apparently, neither did Keith.

Lance was vaguely aware of them laying on the bed, his arms still around Keith, his head still resting on Keith’s shoulder. He was also vaguely aware of how it would look if someone saw them like that but, for once, Lance didn't care.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Doesn't update for two months and then comes back with a short chapter.  
> Yup, that's me.  
> I can say two things:  
> 1- I'll reaaally try to update sooner this time  
> 2- Isn't it cute that this chapter ended up being fluffy in the end? Don't get used to it, I'm saving the sad things for the next one!  
> Byeee o/


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LESS THAN A MONTH AFTER THE LAST UPDATE AREN'T YOU PROUD OF ME? Sooo, as promised in the last chapter, here is where the angst really starts being part of this story.   
> Hope you enjoy it!

When Lance opened his eyes again, he was alone, facing a bottle of water placed next to him that he didn't hesitate to drink. Strangely, he felt a lot better. His head still hurt a little but that was it, no more dizziness or anything like that. It was a little bit...unsettling.

Putting the bottle aside, Lance lay down again and pressed his face against his pillow. It smelled like his after shower cologne. Lance frowned, confused. He didn't remember using it.

It didn't take long for Lance to figure it out.

_Keith_.

His first instinct was to laugh at the thought of Keith using his products, but the memories of the events from the night before overflowed his mind before any sound could leave his mouth and all Lance could feel was panic as he remembered what happened.

“Oh no” he whispered to himself.

He had not only _cried_ on Keith but had also _cuddled_ with him. Cuddled! With Keith! With a boy! After crying his heart out!Lance groaned and pressed his face harder against the pillow which only made the scent of the cologne get stronger.

Keith.

Keith.

Keith.

“Fuck” Lance groaned and flipped over, now facing the celling. He hid his face with his hands and felt the warmth emanating from his cheeks “Fuuuck”

He did not need to deal with that shit. Nope. It had been nothing. Lance was sick, that's why he'd cried on Keith’s shoulder and fucking cuddled with him after. He was sick, that explained it all. Lance wasn't thinking straight.

_Oh yeah_ , that little voice in his mind said, _you reeeally weren't thinking straight._

“Ugh” Lance groaned again.

His panic was interrupted by the door opening and Lance quickly took one hand out of the way to see who was entering. _Please don't let it be Keith,_ he prayed. Fortunately, it was his mother . She seemed worried, turning to face Lance as soon as she stepped into the room.

" _Lance_ " She said when she made eye contact with him, relief clear in her voice. He took his hands out of his face so he could look at her properly. " _How are you feeling, dear?_ "

Now _that_ was an interesting question. Honestly? He felt like he might die and it was not due to staying under the sun for too long. But Lance couldn't afford honesty at that moment, his mother was already worried enough.

" _I feel better than I thought I would_ " he finally answered. His mother was smiling while she walked to the bed and sat next to him She started to gently stroke his hair and that simple act was enough to make Lance calm down a little. His mother’s presence always did this to him. Calmed his down, helped him go through things. He missed it while he was out. All the times everything felt like too much and Lance wanted his mother to hug him but she wasn't there. “ _And even better now that you're here_ ”

Clara gently cleaned the tears Lance didn't even realize were there with the hand that wasn't in his hair. She leaned down to press a gentle kiss on the top of his head.

“ _I'm really happy to hear this, my dear. You had me really worried._ ” There was the worry on her face again and it hurt Lance to know he was the cause of it.

“ _I know_ ” he apologized  “ _I'm sorry_ ”

“ _The important part is that you are okay now_.”  She only smiled at him, her hand keeping the calming movements on his hair   “ _That's all that matters_ ” 

Lance smiled at her too.

“ _You know_ ” he said, trying to change the mood " _I thought sunstroke took longer to get better_ "

" _I thought that too, when Keith told me you were recovering really fast_ " Her voice was so calm and gentle. " _Keith told me about this, uh,bond thing you guys have with your..._ " she made a short pause, as if analyzing what she was about to say " _...giant mechanical lions_ " Clara paused again, analyzing what she had just said. She sighed. " _He said your lion's element is water and that she, why is the lion a she by the way, can also create ice or something like that, so Keith believes this has something to do with the fact you are better already._ " She let out a short laugh “ _I never thought I would have to thank a lion robot for anything. This is weird._ "

Lance couldn't help but laugh a little himself. It was truly hard to believe, everything that happened. A year ago his biggest dream was to be able to go to space and now the last thing he wants to do is to go back there. What a fucking irony.

" _I've always known you were destined to greatness_ " Clara continued " _I've never thought it would come in form of defending the universe in a giant blue lion, though, so that was a little bit of a surprise_ " Clara laughed again and Lance could only think about how much he loved when she laughed, how much he loved seeing his mother happy. “ _Lance_ ” She was looking at him directly in the eyes now. “I _just want you to know that I’m really proud of you, my son. Really, really proud_ ”

And now, all that Lance could think about was how much it would hurt to leave her again.

+++

“So you have like, superpowers?” Lucas practically screamed. Lance could only smile as he shook his head, but Lucas didn't seem to care. “Can you make ice blasts?!”

"I can no..."

“Like Elsa!” Julia quickly turned her attention away from the drawing she was doing to focus on Lance. She, too, was completely ignoring Lance's attempts to say that no, he couldn't do that. “You are a princess, Lance!”

“Oh my god, wait here!” Lucas ran to the kitchen and he was moving so fast that Lance imagined Hunk would get motion sickness just by looking at him. It didn't take much for Lucas to return with an ice tray in his hands “ Can you turn this into a talking snowman?!”

Both Lucas and Julia looked so excited that Lance actually felt bad about not having cool superpowers. Maybe if he talked to Blue they could do something about it? 

“I can't ” He said and seeing how their faces turned from excited to disappointed made his heart feel a little bit tighter “Sorry, guys”

“Ah, it's fine! You already pilot an awesome lion anyway,also being a princess would be way too much!” Lucas smiled again and in it only took a blink of an eye for him to put the ice tray back in the refrigerator.

“I’m still sad” Julia pouted “ I would love to meet a princess”

“Well” Lance couldn't fight back the smile that already covered his face. He made a motion for the kids to come closer to where he was sit on the couch. Both of them obeyed without as much as a second thought and sat on the floor in front of Lance. It felt like the old days again, when Lance would tell them stories about space and the adventures astronauts had up there. It didn't really change that much if you think about it. “I may not be a princess, but I do know one. A real princess”

“Really?!” Julia screamed at the same time Lucas shouted “No way!”

“Your lack of faith hurt me.” Lance dramatically put a hand on his heart “ I'm your awesome uncle Lance, of course I know a princess!”

“Sebastian is also an amazing uncle and he doesn't know a princess!” Julia crossed her arms at him.

“Yeah, but he hasn't flown a mechanical lion, has he?” He stick his to tongue to her playfully. “Do you want to hear about the princess or not?”

“Yes!” It was Lucas who answered while Julia still looked unimpressed. “Does she pilot a lion like you? Is she a paladin like you and Keith? Oh my god, what's her bayard like?!”

“Calm down, Lucas” Lance laughed “Allura isn't a paladin, but she's very powerful as well! She has knows how to do magic!”

“Magic?!” And now Julia was interested as well “Like Elsa?”

Lance would never let that kid watch Frozen again. 

“Well, no.” And when Lance saw Julia was about to go back to pouting he quickly added” But once she saved an entire planet with her bare hands!”

“What?!”

“I know right? Isn't it awesome?” Lance smiled to the kids and they nod enthusiastically “It was one of our first battles and we did extremely well for people who had just become defenders of the universe” He smiled proudly and pointed one finger to his chest “ Specially me, if you ask”

“Weren't you the one who bumped in that easily avoidable garla construction?” A new voice added to the conversation.

Lance turned so fast his neck hurt. Keith was behind him, leaning against the wall with a grin on his face. He looked so…comfortable? Really, Lance couldn't feel any awkward vibe coming from Keith and that was _weird_. Really weird. Was Keith pretending it never happened? He probably was, wasn't he? Lance knew it was for the best, but that didn't stop him from feeling a little bit hurt.

_Nope, stop it._

“Oh yeah?” Lance teased back. If Keith wanted to just pretend nothing ever happened Lance would happily go along with it. “Weren't you the one who wanted to jump into a room full of Garlas?”

“I was young and inexperienced” Keith shrugged.

“And what changed, exactly?”

Keith stuck his tongue to Lance and the laugh the blue paladin let out at the sigh was genuine. It was strange, how he could go from being afraid of looking Keith in the eyes to laughing at him. It was a good feeling though, laughing with Keith. Just like they did back in space, light years away from Earth. A place he would soon go back to. Light years away from Earth. Away from his family. _Again_.

“…princess! Right, Lancy?”

Lance blinked a few times. Lucas stared at him, waiting for his answer. The only problem was, Lance had no idea on what he had been asked. He felt some chills on the back of his neck and assumed Keith was starring at him too.

“Yeah?” Lance tried to sound natural, but, judging by how Lucas frowned at him, he had failed.

“Are you ok, Lancy?” The boy asked and Julia soon joined him with the worried face.

“Yup!” He was quick to answer, back to his big smile he didn't even realized he had dropped “I was just thinking about stuff. No worries here!”

That seemed to be enough for the kids.

“Lance”

But it wasn't enough for Keith.

“Huh?”   
Keith's hand found itself on Lance’s shoulder. That action had been repeated so many times on the last few days that Lance was kind of used to that comfortable presence on his shoulder every time he felt anxious about something. Lance would never admit it, but he had to make some effort not to guide his own hand there so he could put it on Keith's. Instead he just turned his head so he could face the red paladin.

Keith looked worried, a very different expression from the relaxed one he had a few seconds earlier. He didn't even need to say anything for Lance to understand what he wanted to ask. Keith's eyes said it all.

_Are you sure you are okay?_

Lance nod, but Keith still didn't look like he believed on it.

“Hey, I wanna hear more stories!” Their moment was interrupted by Julia and both teenagers turned to the girl. She had her puppy eyes on “Please!”

“Yeah, me too!” Lucas soon joined her.

Keith’s hand left Lance’s shoulder as he moved to sit next to Lance on the couch. His face didn't show any traces of worry anymore and that made Lance ask himself just how good Keith was at pretending things didn't just happen.

“You guys want to hear a story, huh?” Keith asked and the playful grin was back on his face. He looked good like that, Lance thought, smiling. It made him seem more like an ordinary teenage boy and less like the soldier he was, used to death and war at such a young age. “Let me tell you about this time Lance got himself stuck inside a giant worm”

“Keith!”

+++

In the end, Lance had at least six different different drawings of him stuck inside the space worm. Sebastian and Maria had joined the kids at some point which lead to uncle Diego joining as well and they would never let Lance live that story down (Thanks, _Keith_ )

At least everyone had fun drawing and, along with the worm related ones, Lance actually got some really good drawings of his adventures as the blue paladin.

“Heh, Keith” Lance called as he looked at the drawings. Keith’s head appeared from behind the bathroom’s door, his toothbrush hanging on his mouth. It was already night time and, after putting a very excited Lucas to sleep, they were finally able to get ready for bed. “Lucas managed to get your stupid mullet right”

“Fuck you” Keith said, but the toothbrush didn't really help so it sounded more like ‘fufew’ which made Lance laugh. Lance successfully dodge the deodorant Keith threw at him. 

It didn't take long for Keith to finish brushing his teeth and he soon joined Lance. Keith sat on the opposite side of the bed and started looking at the drawings as well. They fell in a comfortable silence, which was only broke by a short laugh now and then. It was all fine until Lance stupidly let out a sigh.

“I'll miss this” He said and he couldn't contain how sad he sounded as the words left his mouth “I'll miss this a lot”

Lance could feel the change of the mood as he stared at the drawings, focusing on one of him and Keith standing side by side next to what Julia explained to be an evil ladybug. When he raised his head again, Keith was way closer than he was initially, but Lance didn't break eye contact. They started at each others eyes.

“I can't possibly know what this feels like” Keith started and his voice tone was different from the usual one. Lance couldn't really explain why. “But I've been here for a little while and I already understand why you love your family so much” His hand found Lance’s shoulder again “When we go back, I'll miss this too. Not as much as you, but I will” Keith smiled a little “So we will come back. Both of us. Together.”

It happened fast, too fast for Lance to process it was really happening. On one moment he was looking at Keith smiling and saying those gentle words to him and on the other he had been consumed by that warm feeling in his chest and his smile was on Keith’s.

They were kissing.

It was so fast, Lance wasn't thinking. Keith's hand moved from Lance’s shoulder to the back of his neck and Lance’s hands were now holding the fabric of Keith's shirt.

Because they were kissing.

It was messy and kind of awkward, but at the same time good because Lance was kissing Keith and Keith was kissing Lance. The warm feeling on Lance’s chest grew stronger and stronger. They were kissing!

It was then that Lance realized.

Oh fuck.

_They were kissing!_

It happened too fast. Lance opened his eyes and pushed Keith off him. He didn't use much force, but it destabilized Keith enough to make him almost fall off the bed. Thankfully, he had the reflexes of a paladin. 

Lance’s mind was running at full speed and the warm feeling was gone. All he wanted to do was scream until his voice stopped working. He had kissed Keith! His friend! A boy! Fuck, fuck, fuck, he had ruined everything. Just because now they were truly developing a friendship Lance had to go and ruin it all. Oh my god, what had he done? 

“Lance?”

Keith was staring at him. Eyes wide, mouth red and an expression so full of hurt but also confusion.

_He hates you now._

“I'm sorry” Lance said, low enough to be considered a mere whisper. His body was moving on his own as he collected the drawings and placed them on his bed side table. He couldn't bring himself to look at Keith anymore. “ I wasn't thinking, I'm sorry”

“Lance…”

“No” Lance cut Keith off. He was now laying down, hiding himself under his blankets and facing the wall so intensely he might as well burn a hole on it. Lance didn't need to look to turn the lights off, his arm was already used to where the switch was. “Go to sleep, Keith. Good night.”

It was clear for Lance that Keith wanted to say something else, but he didn't. Instead, seconds after the words left his mouth, Lance was able to hear the sound of Keith getting into his own bed.

“Ok” Keith said and it was so low Lance wasn't really sure if Keith had really said anything at all.

It was for the best. Lance knew it was for the best. Being with Keith was wrong, it was better to end it before it even truly started. It was for the best, Lance knew that.

So why there were tears falling down his cheeks? 

Why the warm feeling he once felt was now as cold as ice? 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to say a huge thank you to everyone that has commented and liked this fic. You guys make me so happy <3 Thank you!


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait!

When Keith woke up that morning, Lance had already gotten up and left the room and Keith knew that the rest of the day would go like that, with Lance running away from him. 

And so the day went.

Lance had already had breakfast when Keith had his so they didn't meet. Same thing with lunch. They saw each other once when Keith was going to the bathroom but Lance was quick to turn to the other direction before Keith could say anything. 

It hurt. Not only because it was a clear rejection, but also because Keith knew things would only get harder as the time passed and in the end he might lose a friend. A teammate.

 _Lance_. 

"You seem sad Keith. Is everything okay?" 

Keith turned to the source of the voice: Lucas. 

"Of course." Keith smiled despite how much he wanted to cry, to scream that no, nothing was fine. "I'm just a little bit tired, but don't worry about it." 

Lucas frowned, not really convinced. 

"Is it because of Lance?" The boy asked "He's just busy with the wedding, that's why he is not talking to you that much today" 

 _If only you knew_ , Keith thought but didn't say. Instead, he smiled at the child and decided to play along.

"Yeah" Keith said "I just kind of feel a little bit left out, you know? It's not Lance's fault, though"  

It really wasn't. Keith should be apologizing to him about how he acted. He would apologize if Lance gave him the chance.

"I know" Lucas sat next to Keith on the couch. "I don't understand much about weddings so they don't really ask me anything but!" The kid raised his head suddenly, a big smile on his face " I'm sure Sebastian will be really happy because he will marry the girls he loves! That's what matters, right? Being with who you love?" 

And at that moment, lookng at Lucas' smiling face, Keith realized he would really miss the child. It was such a weird thing, how much he connected himself with the boy. It was almost like having a little brother of his own and oh god, how Keith would miss that. He would miss everything, really. The beach, the sandcastles, the pancakes, the soft Spanish he still didn't understand but love to hear, the way the house was always so full of life.

Keith would miss the chance of having a family  because that's how he saw them. He had been there for only a couple of days but already felt like he wanted nothing more than to be part of that life.

Maybe that was his problem. Maybe he got attached too easily and that's why the thought of being alone again hurt so much.

"Keith?" Keith turned to face Lucas and the boy was just a blur of colors, a very worried blur of colors. "Are you crying? Is everything okay? Keith?" Keith was barely hearing what the boy said, but the next phrase took him out of his trance. "Do you want me to call Lance?"

" _No_ " Keith said and it sounded too desperate. _He's the reason I'm crying_ was there on the tip of Keith's tongue but was left unsaid. Lucas didn't need to know. "I just remembered something sad" Keith was quick to add as he scrubbed his hands on his eyes, desperately trying to clean the tears away. "He's busy with the wedding right now, we shouldn't bother him with something so stupid, ok?" 

Lucas seemed unsure, but he didn't make any movements to get up. Instead gently put his hand on Keith's shoulder. 

"Are you sure?" He asked. 

Keith nodded.

"I'll be fine don't worry" 

 But he wouldn't. Losing Lance's family forever and being alone again would never be fine because no matter how much Keith tried to act like he loved solitude it would never be the truth. Keith was alone because he didn't have anyone to be with him and now that he had the chance of changing this situation he lost it all because of one stupid mistake.

  ** _No_**. 

 Keith got up abruptly, determination on his face.

 "Keith?" Lucas called.

 Keith would not lose them so easily. He would not let that happen. He didn't care if it was selfish or stupid or dumb, he just couldn't let them go like that. Not Lance. Not Lance's family. If he needed to have some awkward conversations with Lance to fix everything then be it.

 "I changed my mind" Keith said and this time, when he turned to Lucas, the smile on his face was real. "I'm gonna go find Lance." And with that Keith walked out of the room.

 Lucas frowned, but didn't follow him. He figured Keith needed to have this conversation with Lance and Lance only, so he stayed back as Keith left and hoped whatever was bothering Keith got solved.

 "Try the kitchen!" The boy shouted.

 Keith nodded even though he knew Lucas couldn't see him anymore because he needed that affirmation. He would do this. He would talk to Lance and solve the problem. If not for him and his selfish desires then for Voltron. They thought still had a war to win and Lance would,at least, understand that. 

 Right?

 Keith sighed. Things would not be easy.

 On the bright side, Lucas was right about his guess and Lance really was in the kitchen. A smile on his face and half an orange on his hand as he helped his mother with dinner.The scene looked so domestic, so happy and normal. That happiness died as soon as Lance's eyes landed on Keith's. Keith pretended it didn't hurt.

 "Hey Lance" He said, trying to sound casual. Now Clara was also looking at him, but differently from her son there still was a smile on her face. "Can we talk?" 

 "I'm kind of busy right now, Keith. I'm sure whatever you want to say to me can wait." Lance's answer was fast, as if he had it planned on his head and was just waiting for the opportunity to use it. Keith wouldn't be surprised if it really was the case. 

 "You're not that busy, Lance" Clara scolded her son, completely unaware of how those words made Lance's face pale. "You can go talk to Keith and I'll finish this" Lance seemed almost panicked at the end of that sentence.

  _"But mom-"_ He tried to say.

  _"No, no, I don't want to hear it. Now go"_

 Lance looked like he wanted to argue but his mother turned to look at him. She stared right into his eyes and Keith could see an unspoken conversation happening there. In the end, Lance sighed. 

 "Okay" He said and put his orange and apron on the counter. Lance then turned to Keith. Keith couldn't really understand the expression on his face. "Let's talk" 

 So Keith followed Lance as he exited the kitchen and kept following him as he exited the house and kept following as Lance walked farther away from the house and closer to beach. The weather wasn't good. It was cold and cloudy and it looked like it would rain soon. The waves were much more violent than Keith remembered them to be. 

 "Okay" Lance repeated himself."Let's talk" 

  _That's it._

 So, at an empty beach during a terrible weather, Keith Kogane opened up for what seemed to be the first time in years.

 "Firstly I would like to say that I'm sorry for how I acted yesterday." Lance seemed surpriesed by those words. Keith continued. "It wasn't right of me to just assume things like that and it clearly made you uncomfortable but" Keith took a deep breath. That was it. He would say it. He looked at Lance, stared into his confused blue eyes." But the thing is that I really like you"  Lance's eyes widened, his mouth opened, but Keith didn't let him interrupt. He would say everything he needed to say before his courage ended. Keith took a step closer to Lance." I know it's strange because we've been rivals or whatever for a long time but I realized how much I like being around you and hearing your laugh and your stupid jokes and everything that makes you so you because I like who you are,Lance. I like you." Lance wasn't looking at Keith anymore. It didn't stop him. Keith got closer. "You showed me what having a family is like and I'll be eternally grateful for that, Lance. I've been alone for so long so, so long,and I hated it. I hate being alone." Keith sighed. The wind was getting more aggited, it was getting colder, darker and it was clear that they shouldn't be out at that moment, but Keith couldn't stop talking. "You may not feel the same" He hated how his voice wavered as he said those words. "But It's okay." Lance was looking at him again. They were much closer than before. Keith could see every emotion going through Lance's face."I just thought you should know" 

 It was just as quick as the last time. Keith blinked and Lance's lips were in his, one of Lance's hand was on his neck as the other grabbed his hair. Keith didn't waste time to start kissing back. Lance's lips were soft and warm, his mouth tasted like orange juice. 

 Keith could stay like that forever. 

 Unfortunately, the universe didn't like Keith that much. Again, just like the last time, Keith didn't realize he was pushed until he stumbled backwards and almost fell on the ground. It was like a spell being broken. Keith was brought back to reality and reality was cold and confusing. 

 "What the fuck?" It was all that left Keith's mouth in a mix of anger and confusion. Lance observed him with his own mix of emotions and that only made Keith more angry and confused. "What the fuck?!" He repeated, louder this time.

 "We can't do this!" Lance screamed back. He closed his eyes and shook his head"This is wrong. We can't do this" Lance continued, lower this time.

 "What are you talking about?" Keith was walking closer to Lance but the boy took a step back, arms stretched in front of him.

 "I'm talking about us, Keith!" Lance said " We can't do this, it's wrong!" 

 "What?" Keith tried getting closer again but one more time a Lance just took a step back. Keith almost yelled out of frustration. Why was Lance so difficult?! "Is it because we're teammates?" Keith tried. He didn't move closer this time and Lance seemed to relax a bit. "Because of Voltron?" 

 "No" Lance answered and he seemed strangely ashamed. 

 Keith frowned. If not Voltron then what Lance was talking about? Why would their relationship be wrong?

 

_Oh_. 

 

Realization came like a slap and swallowed all the previous emotions Keith was feeling. Well, all but one. The anger stayed.

 "Are you fucking kidding me?!" Keith screamed and Lance seemed legitimately surprised by the reaction. That only made Keith want to scream more. "You think this is wrong because we're both boys?! That's what all this drama has been about?! You think my feelings are not valid because I like boys and not girls?!" 

 "Keith..." Lance tried to interrupt.

 "Shut up!" Keith screamed and it worked. Lance stopped talking immediately. Keith shook his head. "I can't belive this _. I can't believe this._ " He turned to Lance again. "You're such an asshole" 

 Lance was unfazed by the words, his serious expression didn't change at all. With that,Keith was not angry anymore, oh no, he was furious. 

 "How is it like for your mother to know she has a jerk for a son?!" He screamed " She must be very disappointed." 

 It was a low blow. Keith knew it. But seeing the way Lance's expression changed was worth it. Keith didn't care anymore, he just wanted to Lance as hurt as he was. 

 "As if you know anything about families" Lance spit back. Keith would be lying if he said he didn't expect it, but he would also be lying if he said it didn't hurt.

 "Fuck you!" Keith screamed back. 

 Lance smirked, knowing he had hit a nerve, and Keith was officially done with that shit.

 He did the thing Shiro always told him not to do, the thing that got him expelled, the thing that almost cost his life in a mission once. 

 He let his anger take over.

 " _Better to have no family at all than to be a disgrace to them like you are!_ " 

 It was as if the world had stopped. Lance just started at him and Keith knew what his eyes were saying.

  _Take that back._

 Keith didn't.

 At one point it started raining and Keith couldn't really tell if the water running down his face were tears or just raindrops. Probably both. 

 They stayed like that, glaring at each other with nothing but anger, for some time. It was Lance who spoke first. 

 "Tell mom I'll be late for dinner" Was all he said before turning around.

 "Don't you dare run away!" Keith screamed but he didn't move to stop Lance. "Don't you dare!" He screamed again but Lance didn't turn back.

 Keith yelled and kicked some sand. The rain was making him feel cold, his hair was already wet and sticking to his neck but it didn't matter. Keith just kept kicking sand and yelling because it was all he was able to do. 

 When did everything get so bad?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's not very big but hey, I swear I'm trying. Hope tou guys enjoy ine more chapter amd see you on the next chap!!


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The wait is long, the chapter is short. The usual, you know?  
> I'm sorry ;-;  
> Hope you enjoy it anyway!

The whole thing was so dramatic it could have been taken out of a movie. Lance could have laughed at the thought if he wasn't so...so... argh! He didn't even know what he feeling at the moment! Anger? Sadness? A mix of both? He didn't know. Lance stopped walking. Why? He didn't know. Was he crying or was it just the rain? He didn't know. But one thing Lance knew for sure.

If he kept walking away, he would loose Keith forever.

Lance had always been a people person. He loved to socialize and, although he knew it was an unachievable goal, he really wanted everyone to like him. That meant he didn't want people to look at him differently, didn't want people to talk to him differently, didn't want to be the subject of mean jokes like that kid was all those years ago, didn't want to be afraid of getting hit. Lance didn't want to be treated like that.

But Lance wanted Keith.

The image of them both walking down the street near his house, hand in hand showed up in his mind. In that image, he saw the strange look the couple who leaves next door gave them and saw the random high school boys laughing at them while riding their bicycles and   saw the woman waiting for the bus frown when looking at their hands. But then Lance stopped looking at everybody else and focused on Keith and how he held his head up. How his violet eyes could glare someone to death but when they met Lance’s they were soft and pretty. How Keith smiled at him even when no one else did. He could see it and he wanted it.

And again it was so dramatic that Lance could have laughed at it if he wasn't so busy being hit by the realization that Keith was worth it.

Who cared if that old couple didn't like him. They were rude to his cousins anyway, nobody cared about their opinion. Lance was a defender of the universe, he didn't need high school boys to approve of his relationships. His family would be cool with it, his team hopefully would too and that's what mattered.

Lance laughed. He was so stupid and so stupidly in love with Keith as well.

Lance just hoped he could fix all the shit he did. No, scratch that. He _would_ fix all the shit he did.

Lance began to run back, shoes being swallowed by the wet sand, hair sticking to his forehead, but a smile on his face.

"Keith!" He screamed and Keith turned to look at him. He seemed angry, ready to fight someone and,even though Lance was partially aware that the only someone for Keith to fight against was Lance himself, he didn't stop smiling. "Keith." He said again, lower this time. Lance stopped in front of the angry boy, panting. "I'm so-"

Lance never got the chance to finish the sentence. Keith's fist collided with his jaw and Lance saw starts even before he hit the ground. Damn, Keith was strong. Lance would certainly congratulate him for his amazing fighting skills when Keith stopped using them to hit Lance in the face.

"Ow" Lance groaned and rubbed his face. Great, now there was sand on his hair. Lance sighed. "Okay, I think I deserved that"

"You think?!" Came Keith's mocking voice.  
Lance looked at him. His hair was a wet mess, his nose was red, his glare was ice cold and his mouth was pressed in a thin line. Even then, Lance thought, Keith looked beautiful. Lance wondered if he really was that far gone or if Keith had just hit him too hard. Maybe both.

Huh.

 _Focus, Lance!_ , his mind screamed at him.

Oh yeah.

"Keith" Lance called one more time and waited. No fists were raised, so Lance figured it was ok for him to keep going. "I'm sorry" He continued. Keith huffed and rolled his eyes, ready to give some rude and sarcastic answer Lance knew he deserved but really didn't want to hear at that moment. "No!" Lance screamed , surprising them both when he abruptly got up and pressed his hand on Keith's mouth. Lance was sure he would have gotten punched again if Keith wasn't busy being too confused. "Just shut up and let me finish, ok?" Lance said and slowly retracted his hand. Keith stayed silent. He didn't seem that angry anymore, no, instead, his eyes were full of hurt. Lance found it worse.

"I'm sorry" Lance repeated. He stared straight into Keith's eyes. "I'm sorry for hurting you and I'm sorry for making you think that what you feel isn't valid. I'm truly, deeply sorry"

"...That's all?" Keith's voice was so small. So different from how he spoke earlier. It hurt. A lot.

"No" Lance shook his head violently, sand and water flying everywhere."No, no, that's not all. That's definitely not all, Keith" Lance took a deep breath. He needed to be honest, right? He needed to let it all out. "Keith I- I don't kn- Keith." Lance closed his eyes. God, why was it so difficult?! 

"Lance?" Keith called hesitantly.

Lance looked up again, stared at Keith's confused face. He had tell him! He had to explain everything! Lance opened his mouth, then closed it again when his voice didn't work. Why couldn’t he just say it out loud?!

Lance sighed.

"Please don't punch me again" He said hurriedly and launched himself onto Keith, wrapping his arms around the other boy and resting his head on the other's shoulder.

Keith didn't hug him back, but Lance didn't expect him to. That was never the point.  
The move was something Lance did whenever he wanted to tell his mother something he was scared of saying too loudly. He would hug her tightly and whisper his secrets in her ear.

"Keith" Lance whispered , barely loud enough for Keith to hear. The other boy was tense, confused and probably still angry, but he was listening. Lance could tell. "I like you too" Keith moved, but Lance's hold just tightened. He would not let him go before he finished. "I know it's difficult to believe after everything I've done but is the truth and you deserve to know it." Keith stopped moving. He was waiting for an explanation and Lance was ready to give him one. "I'm a coward, Keith" He said and closed his eyes. "I'm a selfish coward." Saying those words seemed to take a weight off Lance's back and he sighed in relief. "I'm a selfish coward because I only think about how things will affect me and forget that other people also have emotions and insecurities of their own. I'm a selfish coward because I care more about the opinion of nobodies than about my own teammate. I'm a selfish coward because you don't deserve any of the shit I've put you through and I knew it was wrong to play with your emotions like that but I did it anyway because I was scared of what other people would think of me." Lance opened his eyes. "I'm a selfish coward and for that I'm sorry, Keith. I'm sorry for carrying too much about unimportant people and forgetting about you." Lance sighed and closed his eyes again. "I'm sorry and I ask you for your forgiveness"

It took exacts 7 seconds for Lance to open his eyes again. Why? Because he felt a pair of arms tentatively wrapping up around him. A head rested on his shoulder now. Keith was trembling. Maybe from the cold, maybe from emotion. Either way, Lance just hugged his tighter.

"I guess I can forgive you" Came Keith's voice.

Lance smiled.

"Thank you"

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for any possible mistakes :( English is not my mother language!


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